This diploma project was produced in order to interpret the most important points of Volos city and to transfer them to the digital world, so that users can interact with the new intangible environment.
First of all, the background of the user’s interaction is presented. The environment in which they move constitutes a future version of the city and the user handles an artificial entity, which is tracking human life. The user’s purpose is to find the transferring circles in each and every interactive map, in order to reach the last map, where the game is finished. Every section in this environment includes geometric and functional features that affect the user’s experience there. Maze walls, points of interest, portals and moving stairs are some of the architectural elements that every map consists of, while movable or fixed threats that are found in the environment allow or prevent motion.
In the second chapter we find the whole amount of maps that were used. Every map features its own chapter of description, which includes information about each square’s design, the pattern that was used and the reason for that selection, based on historic, etymological or geometric features. Later on, the surroundings’ facades were transferred to the digital world, which was achieved with the photographs that were taken in site. The chosen pattern, the section of the redesigned square, the general renders and the floor plan of each square are the ones that fully present the result in the three dimensional space, so that it can be totally understood by the user. Unreal Engine contributed with the ability it provides the user to interact with the produced environment and with the high quality screenshots that were taken.
In the end, an analysis similar to the research subject “Pneuma: Breath of Life, first person perspective and simulation of architectural experience through videogames” is written down. The visual perception of the user, the motion through space, their free or restricted flow in this new environment and the open air rooms that they find are the basic features of their experience. Apart from these, the dipole between light and dark, the materials and the details of these squares, the atmosphere of the environment and the user themselves participate in the experience as well, creating the general sense in the end of the game.